Music-recorder.



G. B. GIRIGLIANO.

MUSIC RBGORDER.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 23, 1910.

Patnted May 21, 1912.

6 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

' G. B. GIRIGLIANO.

MUSIC RECORDER.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 23, 1910.

Patented May 21, 1912.

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G. B. GIRVIGLIANO.

MUSIC RECORDER.

APPLICATION FILED AUG.-23, 1910.

. Patented May 21, 1912.-

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COLUMBlA LANQGRAPH CO.,WASNINGTON. n. c.

G. B. GIRIGLIANO.

MUSIC RECORDER.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 23, 1910.

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Patented m 21, 1912.

G. B. GI-RIGLIANO.

MUSIC RECORDER.

APPLIOATIQN FILED. AUG. 23, 191-0.

Patented May 21, 1912.

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Patented May 21, 1912.

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GIOVANNI BATTISTA CIRIGLIANO, 0F TURIN, ITALY.

Music-RECORDER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 21, 1912.

Application filed August 23, 1910. Serial No. 578,598.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GIOVANNI BATTISTA CIRIGLIANO, a subject of the Kingof Italy, residing at 7 Via Carlo Promis, Turin, Italy, music-master,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Music- Recorders;and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being hadto the accompanying drawings, and to letters or figures of referencemarked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

It is recognized that it would be very desirable for a musical composerto be able to record graphically, the musical phrases composed inplaying the pianoforte, by the very act of playing. It frequentlyhappens, however, that the musician is unable to record the motivediscovered and he frequently has with regret to abandon it andsubstitute another, which may be far less pleasing.

The present invention has for its object to obviate this defect andrelates to a machine by means of which simultaneously with theirinstrumental execution, the musical phrases are recorded in suitablecharacters printed on a strip of paper fed forward uniformly and incorrespondence with the tempo of the composition. It will be understoodthat this result is attained by means of a special kind of musicalnotation, hereinafter eX- plained, differing from the ordinary method ofindicating musical notes heretofore employed, but nevertheless adaptedto be readily read and interpreted and if desired transposed into theordinary musical notation.

The machine is constituted by a duplicate apparatus one part of whichserves to sound an ordinary pianoforte, while the other serves to recordthe musical notes simultaneously with their sounding. These two parts ofthe apparatus are combined in such a manner as to render their actionsynchronous, by acting on a keyboard corresponding to the keys of apianoforte.

The sounding apparatus consists of a series of levers and rodstransmitting the movement from the keyboard operated by the composer tothe keys of a piano in front of which the machine is fixed at the properdistance and height. The recording apparatus is of the type of asuitably modified typewriter.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, which is givenby way of example only, as obviously the various mech anisms may bemodified, provided they are based upon the same general principle ofconstruction and operation in such a manner as to produce the sameresult without departing from the ambit of the invention.

Figures 1 and 1 are plan views of two halves of the machine broken atboth sides; both the strikers for the piano keys and the whole paperholder having been omitted for the sake of clearness. Fig. 2 is avertical cross section on the line 22, in Fig. 1, showing also thestrikers for the piano keys. Fig. 3 is a plan view corresponding to Fig.2. Fig. at is a rear view on an enlarged scale of the mechanismrepresented in Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is a vertical cross section on the line 55in Fig. 1. Fig. 6 is an elevation of the left hand side of the papercarrier. Fig. 7 is a rear elevation of the same provided with a handlefor moving the paper. Fig. 8 is a longitudinal vertical section of thesame on the line 8-8 in Fig. 7. Fig. 9 is an elevation of the right sideof the complete machine, which includes a pedal mechanism for feedingthe recording paper, and Fig. 10 is a detail showing the special rulingof the paper.

The machine embodying the present invention is supported on a table 1 ofsuitable height, on which is mounted an appro priate base 2 presentingthe form of a rectangular frame reinforced by cross members. Thekeyboard 3, is exactly like that of a piano and is actuated by thecomposer instead of the keyboard 4, (Figs. 2 and 3) of the piano infront of which the table 1 is arranged at the proper distance in such amanner that the strikers 5 of the machine, like those of a pianola,correspond exactly with, and rest lightly upon the keys of the piano.

Each key 3 is pivoted on the frame 2 and if necessary is provided with asuitable counterweight indicated simply by an arrow 6 for the sake ofclearness. Each key rests lightly on a corresponding button 7 similar toa key of a typewriting machine. By means of their stems 8 the buttons 7are pivoted to arms 9 angularly displaceable, by means of sleeves 10, ona shaft 11 mounted in the frame 2; the successive sleeves 10 beingspaced and rendered independent by suit able collars 12. The lower endsof the stems 8 are pivotally connected to levers 13 carried by plates14L which are rotatably mounted, by means of sleeves formed on theirupper ends, on a shaft 15 below the shaft 11; the successive plates 14.being spaced and rendered independent by suitable collars 10. The lowerends of the plates 14 are likewise formed with sleeves and are providedwith two suitable recesses, (Fig. a) through which co-axial pins 17, 18mounted in the sleeves project. The pins may either be separate orformed in a single piece in order to facilitate the construction andfitting. Each pin 17 carries a rod 19 (Figs. 2 and which is arrangedtransversely of the machine and jointed at its other end, at the rear ofthe machine, to the vertical arm of a bell. crank lever 20, which isdisplaceably supported in a bracket 21 fixed to the rear part of theframe 2. The horizontal arm of said lever carries a striker 5 adapted toengage a piano key 4. If desired, the two arms of the bell crank lever20 instead of being rigidly united in a single piece, may be pivotedtogether with slight play and. provided, if necessary, with a smallspring with the object of avoiding the slight slip of the hammer uponthe key of the piano. This method of fixing is not shown as it is almostsuperfluous in view of the small amount of slip and the soft nature ofthe striker which cannot injure the surface of the key, so that it isperhaps better dispensed with in order to simplify the construction. Theother pin 18 of each of the plates 1 1 of the keys 3 operated by themusician, carries a rod 22 (Figs. 1 and 5,) which runs obliquely towardthe center of the machine, where it is connected by means of a bellcrank lever 23, rod 24, plate 25, joints 26, 27 and 28, and spring 29 toa character or type 30. This mechanism need not be more particularlydescribed being well known as an essential and common part of everytypewriter machine provided with fixed inking pad and does not form perse a part of the present invention. It should be noted that in case oflimited space and in order to avoid any risk of confusion between therods 22 of the white keys, and the levers 23 of the black keys, the rods24 of the rear characters of the white keys may be made of greaterlength; this lowers the rods 22 of the said white keys, disengaging saidrods 22 from the front mechanism of the characters of the black keys.The special arrangement given to the characters should however, be notedas an essential part of the present invention, this arrangement beingsuch that when the characters are inoperative they are pressed by thesprings 29 against the inking device 31 and they do not all, whenoperated, strike the paper at a central point, like the characters of atypewriting machine, but at various points in accordance wth therequrements of the present machine.

It is well known that every musical motive consists of two parts, onethe air and the other the accompaniment; the first of which is soundedon the piano usually with the right hand and the second withthe lefthand, the former being written on a sheet of music on the upper staffand the other on the lower staff. It follows that the left hand seriesof keys 3 should cause their characters to strike upon the lower staffwhile those of the right hand series strike on the upper stafi. Forconvenience in construction in this machine, the paper runs in the lineof impression from the back to the front of the machine as willhereinafter be described and not in the lateral direction as in eachprinting line in the ordinary typewriting machine. The two staves arearranged upon the paper relatively to the machine in the followingmanner, the staff which will be the lower one in reading is situated onthe left hand side and the upper staff on the right hand side with theusual interval between them. This result is obtained by arranging eachof the printing mechanisms 25, 26, 27, 28, 29 for each of the characters30 in a different plane. These planes do not all converge to a commoncen ter, but cause the characters to strike against the paper atdifferent points on a line transverse to the machine. This result isobtained by the arrangement of the planes of the printing mechanism in aframe 32, in which their supporting pivots are mounted and by means of aguide plate 33 arranged above said frame 32 and fixed thereto by screws,in which plate there are formed two longitudinal openings as a slot 34for the right hand keys which record the air and a slot 35 for the lefthand keys, which record the accompaniment. In addition to the musicalnotes, however, other signs have to be marked upon the sheet, namely thetempo and the expression. The first is generally indicated by numeralsat the beginning of each staff and the second by suitable indicationssuch as Andante, Vivace, Lento, etc., written above the staff. In thepresent machine the space existing between the two staves is utilizedfor working these indications and buttons 36 are provided, six in numberin the present case, and arranged between the keyboard 3 and theprinting frame, and in proximity to the lat-- ter, as in a typewritingmachine. These buttons are marked to correspond with the impressionsthat their characters make, and in the example illustrated theseindications are as follows reading from left to right: V (veloce) T(tempo norwale) L (lento) and 2, 3, 4. Every musician will at onceunderstand the use that should be made of these characters for workingupon the paper, the tempo and expression of the piece that he iscomposing. By means of a printing mechanism identical with that for thekeys 3, these buttons will operate their respective characters. However,as there is no necessity for displacing these characters such as thereis as regards the musical notes and in order to economize space upon thepaper between the staves, all these charactors are caused to strike thepaper at the center of the printing frame where an opening 37 is formedin the guide plate 33 in alinement with and at a suitable interval fromthe slots 34, 35.

In order to write music clearly with this machine, it is also necessaryto provide for distinguishing the sharps and flats, printed by strikingthe black keys, from the other notes printed by striking the white keys.In this connection it should be noted that the sharps and flatspractically correspond so that upon the piano a C sharp is equivalent toa D flat and a D sharp to an E flat and so forth. In order to avoid anexcessive number of keys, it will be sufiicient for the purposes of thepresent machine if the types of the black keys rest upon an inkingdevice of a color clearly distinguishable from the color of the ink forthe types of the white keys; this will render perfectly plain thenature, whether sharp or fiat, of the notes without any necessity forresorting to the well known method of distinguishing them ordinarilyemployed in writing music. In the present machine this result isattained by arranging all the types of the black keys in the front line,and the types of the white keys in the rear line of the printing frame32.

It would, in the present machine be im practicable if not impossible toprovide the six special signs ordinarily used for every note and even ifit were possible, this would render the operation of the keyboard socomplicated as compared with the ordinary operation upon the keyboard ofa piano as to render such a system unacceptable. This is not necessaryin the present machine as the duration of every note corresponds exactlyto the length of the impression of the corresponding character upon thecontinuously moving paper, that is to say the duration of the note isprecisely indicated by the length of its impression recorded on thepaper. It is only necessary in order to distinguish and clearly readthis duration upon the paper, to divide the staves by means ofequidistant perpendicular lines (each space corresponding to a tempounit) and each tempo unit into four equal parts; obviously the fractionsof a tempo unit for which a note lasts, will be indicated by the papercarrier 38 formed of two parallel plates connected by rods and bolted at39 to a bracket 40 projecting rearwardly from the printing frame 32.This paper is of the proper width and carries the two longitudinallyruled staves which are divided perpendicularly as stated above. Thepaper passes between a tension roller 43 and a supporting roller 44,then beneath a platen or printing roller 45, similar to that oftypewriting machines, and finally between two gripping and guidingrollers 46, 47 which are rotated by a crank 48, on the axle of theroller 47, to give the paper its initial tension after which the crankis then removed. The paper returns to the rear of the machine and isfinally collected in a suitable basket, not shown. By means of a pedal49, (Fig. 9) which may be provided with a counterweight 50 or with acounter spring (not shown) and by the intermediary of a rod 51, studplate 52, and pinion 53 integral therewith and a toothed wheel 54 whichengages said pinion and is integral with the roller 47, the musicianimparts movement to the paper. Each operation of lifting the foot andeach depression of it corresponds to a tempo unit and consequently foreach of these movements four of the small spaces marked transversely onthe staves should pass through the machine. Having regard to theordinary movement that can be given normally to a pedal and theproportions of the parts of the mechanism the space corresponding to atempo unitwill be about 24 mm. and the height assigned to each staff isabout 20 mm. with a somewhat larger space, say 23 mm. between them. Suchdimensions render the writing of the present machine perfectly clear.

In order to notify the musician of the uniformity of the tempo unit andas to the uniform unwinding of the paper, there is arranged upon thepaper carrier 38, preferably on the side opposite that on which the gearfor transmitting movement from the pedal is mounted, a time markingmechanism which comprises a wheel 55 provided with eight teeth andmounted on the same shaft as the roller 47 a toothed wheel 54, a lever56 with pawl 57 maintained in engagement with the wheel 55 by thegreater weight of the lever arm 56, the free end of which each time atooth of the wheel 55 acts upon the arm or pawl 57 strikes a light blowupon a bell 58. The transmission ratio is such that the bell is struckat each tempo unit. As however these repeated strokes on the bellalthough small, might disturb the musician, the entire device may beomitted or at least it may be rendered inoperative merely by removingthe lever 56 from the paper carrier.

Claims:

1. A piano player and recorder, comprising a plurality of strikersadapted to engage the keys of a piano, a recording member for eachstriker, and means to operate a striker and recording membersimultaneously.

2. A piano player and recorder, comprising a plurality of strikersadapted to engage the keys of a piano, a recording member for eachstriker, a plurality of operating keys, and means connecting each of thelatter with a striker and a recording member.

3. A piano player and recorder, c0mprising a platen, a plurality ofrecording elements adapted to engage the latter at different points,keys for operating the recording elements, and a plurality of strikersadapted to engage the keys of a piano and operable by said operatingkeys simultaneously with the recording elements.

f. A piano player and recorder, comprising a plurality of strikersadapted to depress the keys of a piano, a keyboard operatively connectedwith the strikers, a rotatable non-traveling platen and a plurality ofrecording elements operatively connected with the keyboard and strikersand adapted to engage the platen at differentpoints thereof.

5. In a machine for playing a keyboard musical instrument, a pluralityof strikers adapted to engage the keys of said instrument, a keyboard,members connecting the keyboard and strikers, a rotatable non-travelingplaten, recording elements adapted to engage the latter at differentpoints, and members connecting the recording elements with said keyboardwhereby a striker and a recording element are operated simultaneously.

6. In a piano player and recorder, a plu rality of strikers adapted toengage the piano keys, a keyboard comprising keys corresponding to thepiano keys, rods connect ing the strikers and keyboard, a rotatablenon-traveling platen, a plurality of recording members, adapted toengage the platen at different points, rods connecting the re 'cordingmembers and keyboard whereby a striker and a recording member areoperated simultaneously, and a plurality of recording members operableindependently of the strikers.

7. In a piano player and recorder, a plurality of strikers adapted toengage the piano keys, a keyboard comprising keys corresponding to thepiano keys, rods connecting the strikers and keyboard, a rotatablenontraveling platen, a plurality of recording members adapted to engagethe platen at different points, rods connecting the recording membersand keyboard whereby a striker and recording member are operatedsimultaneously, and a pedal operated mech anism for feeding a paperstrip between the platen and recording members at a uniform speed.

8. In a piano player and recorder, a base, a plurality of strikerspivotally mounted thereon and projecting therefrom adapted to engage thekeys of a piano, operating keys mounted in front of the strikers, platespivotally mounted beneath the operating keys, means operated by thelatter to swing said plates, a rotatable non-slidable platen, type-barsadapted to engage the platen at different points, and means connectingeach of said plates with a type bar and with a striker,

9. In a piano player and recorder, a base, a plurality of strikerspivotally mounted thereon and projecting therefrom adapted to engage thekeys of a piano, operating keys mounted in front of the strikers, platespivotally mounted beneath the operating keys, means operated by thelatter to swing said plates, a rotatable non-slidable platen, type-barsadapted to engage the platen at different points, means connecting eachof said plates with a type-bar and with a striker, and a series of keysbetween the platen and operating keys, each connected with a type-bar.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention, I have signedmy name in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

GIOVANNI BATTISTA GIRIGLIANO.

lVitnesses PIERo GIANOLIO, EUGENIE SURLoNE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. C.

